ROULERS COMMANDED.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 December 1917, Page 6

ROULERS COMMANDED.

VALUE OP THE RIDGE. London, Nov. 20. Mr. Perry Robinson, the Times correspondent on the Western front, says that •the Prussians fought well on Saturday. The struggles were hard, and there was tense hand-to-hand fighting. The concentrated artillery firo on a narrow front was the. 'heaviest that has been seen during the war. It continued for 30 hours. The weather made aviation work impossible and communication difficult. It favored the counter-attacks of the Huns, but tlesvpite their disadvantages,, the •Canadians held their gains and secured greater freedom of movement north of Passehonda'cle, robbing the enemy of his observation. If the Heavy guns were brought up, we coiild shell Belgium "as far as Ostend and Bruges. What is more important, we command Roulers, with its roads and railways. The Germans lost immense quantities cf material intended for the winter defences. * They were fortifying the ridge with quantities of cement and iron rods. The military expert of. Wie Tageblatt says that every man in Flanders is convinced that th'e. British will enforce the most serious decision of the world-war' there. The Mittag Zeitung's export comments on the deadly British artillery skill and the tenacity of their infantry attacks. The wave-on-wave methods generally are likened to a steam roller. To-day's German official message reports intense artillery fire in the Yeer region. Mr. Beach Thomas, representative of the Daily Mail, writing on Saturday, describes what he calls the intense nightmare struggle. The runners never moved through more crowded perils. Shells were everywhere, and they went so deep that few. splinters merged, but only earth and slush. The men in the lower levels were drenched, and drowned by great geysers of filth and water. Farms were won and last four times. All the day the guns fought the opposing infantry with unusual fury, while the front was swilled with rain, and wind swept. The recovery of the wounded was heroic work. Rome were brought In from No Man's Land, where they had been since the last attack. The dead He thickly In groups of from 10 to 20, killed simultaneously, "by a single shell. 'A German stretcher disgonrqd ft tin-chine-gun, which was immediately put into action. The next minute the crew was dead and the red cross disappeared The Germans, in revenge for the loss of Passchendaele. crowded the front with .fresh troons and guns. They are coun-ter-attacking and making an tntens* struggle to regain the position.